I have to apologise to all our members here as I have been so busy with life that I haven't reported the findings of what caused our crash on Jan 2 2008. With out further delay here what we know....
After the tire was professionally inspected, it was found out that I did in fact hit something in the road. It appears to have been about the size of my pinkey finger and completely punctured the casing and zippered part of the sidewall. I have my theories after learning that some of the reflectors down south are spiked into the asphault. Perhaps one of the reflectors was missing or broke and allowed the retaining spike to puncture the tire.
I apologise for not posting this up sooner, but I want you folks to be able to make intelligent desicions on purchasing tires. The Michelin Commanders that I had on my bike are not the cause of the accident. If your thinking of buying them I would say to be confident in them. I was pleased with the performance of them, but ultimately I love the Avons and thats what I will buy in the future.
Again I apologise for the delay, I hope this helps out anybody that was wanting to hear about the findings before they bought tires.